


Excerpts from the Deposition of Dolores Jane Umbridge

by dark_pookha



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: HPFT, Hogwarts, Other, Violence, family violence, major death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 04:06:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10506024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dark_pookha/pseuds/dark_pookha





	

_Excerpts from the Deposition of Dolores Jane Umbridge told in her own words, describing events of her at age fifteen._

I sat in the hallway on a bench outside the judge’s office. I could hear muffled talking from inside the door, and once or twice a raised voice. My supposed brother sat across from me, dressed in his best clothes. He’d tried to speak to me and I’d been forced to tell him what I thought.

“They say you’re a Squib, but really, you’re just a Muggle from one of mother’s many dalliances with them.”

He didn’t bother me after that.

It wasn’t too much longer before my father and mother (how I hated to call her that) came out of the office.

“It’s all, done, Dolores, you’re staying with me and your mother is taking your ‘brother’ with her.” I could hear the quotes around brother; my father felt the same way about him as I did.

My mother approached me in her tatty, second-hand skirt-suit from the fifties.

“Now dear, you be a good girl.” Tears shone in her eyes. I wished, not for the first time, that I wasn’t underage and could use magic.

I did the next best thing.

As she was wiping the spit from her face, I told her, “We’re well quit of you, you Muggle and magic thief. Take that boy with you and never contact us again."

I turned and walked away, with my father on my heels.

I could hear both her and the boy crying.

It was easy enough that summer to find them. They’d taken a house in Birmingham. I took the Knight Bus to Manchester and made the rest of the trip by broom. An easy entry into an unlocked cellar door, a twist of the gas main and it was all done.

I flew back to Manchester, took the Knight Bus home and arrived just before my father rose to go to work.

The Muggle authorities would call it a tragic accident. A gas leak that had caused them to suffocate. I called it justice for a magic-stealing Muggle and her spawn.

 

* * *

 

 

Being back in the dungeon felt right. Watching the dark water on the windows matched my mood. I’d been passed over for Prefect, which didn’t surprise me, as Dumbledore hated me. But to have made my Half-Blood room-mate, Patricia Snordhoffer, a Prefect was beyond the pale.

Her badge rested on her flat, boyish breast and pride shone on her pock-marked, acne-scarred face as she directed the first-years to their dorms. Nott and Ridings whispered in the corner, casting disparaging looks at her, too. I walked briskly across the common room to them and their whispering stopped.

“What do you want, Toad?” Nott asked. Ridings was silent, but his expression wasn’t pleased as I approached. He always had a sneer on his face and pretended not to know me well in front of others, but we’d spent some time together in the common room in the dark. Not that he’d admit to that.

I ignored Nott’s insult, as I ignored it every time I had heard it previously.

“I want to put Patsy there in her place. Not only should she not be a Prefect, she shouldn’t be Slytherin at all.”

Nott grinned and Ridings laughed. I knew they both agreed, but they were probably too chicken-shit to do anything about it.

“Yeah, what do you have in mind?” Ridings asked.

I leaned closer, and started whispering to both of them.  
  
“Patsy, dear,” I said to her as we dressed the next morning. “I heard the most amazing thing yesterday.”

“Oh, Dolores, what’s that?”

I clipped my cloisonné cat pin on and waited a beat before continuing, like I was unsure if I should be speaking or not.

“Well, I head from Ridings who heard from Spenser, who heard it from someone that Nott has a thing for you.” I knew she fancied him, and her flushing scarlet face under her acne told me I was on the right track.

“You know him better than I do,” she said. “Do you really think someone like him would go for someone like me?”

“I could ask,” I said, knowing what her reaction would be. It was hard to hide my smirk as she shook her head vehemently.

“No, no, don’t ask.” “Are you sure? It’s no problem for me to ask Ridings and he can ask Nott.”

She kept shaking her head.

“All right, if you’re sure. I won’t ask.” I left the room with a small smile on my face that I knew she couldn’t see. The bait was set.

I watched her in Charms as Patsy surreptitiously watched Nott to see if he was watching her.

Nott noticed and smiled back at her as Flitwick droned on at the chalkboard. She quickly turned away, trying to pay attention to Flitwick, but I could tell she was distracted.

After class, Nott walked up to her in the hallway. I positioned myself where I could hear.“Hey, Patsy, we have a Hogsmeade weekend coming up soon. Would you like to go with me?” He leaned over her and grinned.

I saw the flush start up her neck, and her breath quicken. She lowered her head so she wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“Yes, Peter, I’d like that,” she said, calling Nott by his first name.

“Great, I’ll meet you at the entrance at noon on Saturday.” He lifted her head by putting his hand under her chin, and then brushed her hair back from her face.

“I like your hair,” he said, and then walked away.

“See, what did I tell you?” I told her.

That night, after dinner, she was in our dorm room, writing a letter to her mother, just like I knew she would. She had to tell her precious Muggle mother all about her upcoming date. I pretended to be doing my Charms homework, but instead, I was watching her write. When I figured she was just about done, I left the room and made my way to the Owlery.

I hid myself in the shadows and tried to Disillusion myself. I thought that I’d camouflaged myself somewhat and just waited. Soon, she appeared at the top of the stairs.

She made her way to the one of the school owls and clipped her letter to its talons.

“Take this to my mother, you’ve been there before.” She gave the owl a treat from her pocket.  
I waited until she was at the top of the stairs before moving. I knew that if I used magic, it would be detected later during an investigation, so instead, I just crept up behind her and pushed.

The screams only lasted until the first landing, then all I could hear were the soft thuds as she tumbled down the spiral stairs.

I followed quickly behind, the lie on my lips that she slipped if anyone had heard her.

She lay on the stairs on the second landing down, her neck at an odd angle. I went to the base of the stairs before Disillusioning myself, so I didn’t leave a magical trace near her body. It would be better if someone else discovered her.

The next morning at breakfast, there was a lot of whispering amongst the staff and students. I sat at my normal seat at the end of the table. It wasn’t long before Nott slid up next to me.

“That wasn’t the plan, Toad,” he whispered in my ear. “You were just supposed to stir up the owls so they attacked her and shit on her, you weren’t supposed to kill her.”

I turned toward him with a blank look on my face. “Did something happen to someone? How terrible.”

He blinked and slid away from me as I stifled a girlish giggle.

Headmaster Dumbledore rose and began to address the students.

“As many of you know by now, Patricia Snordhoffer fell down the stairs of the Owlery last night and broke her neck. Sadly she has passed.”

As he continued on with his spiel, I ate my breakfast calmly and quickly, practicing my Occlumency if needed against questioning.


End file.
